U.S.: Fire at the White House Compound

A fire broke out in an electrical closet near Vice President Dick Cheney's ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House on Dec. 19. The big question here is what was lost in the fire given the importance of the location, which essentially is just as significant as the White House itself. Since fire procedures require employees to lock classified documents in fire-proof safes, time and productivity losses likely will be the biggest fallout from the fire.